So You Want A Great Facebook Page? Optimize for Search!

It seems everyone has a Facebook page, but few people or businesses know how to optimize their pages for search.  Unfortunately, this means that a business’s Facebook page may not be delivering the content punch it could due to poor reach or lack of searchability by targeted groups.

It is important to maximize your Facebook presence just as you do for any other platform.  An SEO marketing firm can help you create a Facebook page that will give your firm maximum search results and pull more traffic to your website, ultimately resulting in more conversions.

How Do People Find Your Facebook?

The first thing to understand is how people find your firm’s Facebook page.  Some people search for you specifically through Facebook or see you “liked” on someone else’s feed.  However, the majority of new clients arrive at your Facebook page by first visiting your website or by clicking on a link in a SERP or search engine results page.  This is the area you want to target for optimization.

How Do I Optimize?

In order to optimize your Facebook content, you must first see what happens when a user searches for a keyword.  Try it out:  Google your firm’s type of work and see what comes up.

What you find may surprise you or it may be expected.  What is difficult to know is how these SERP results relate to your Facebook content.  Here are four things you should do to ensure that your Facebook is optimized to be found on search engine result pages.

1)       Grow your fanbase.  The larger your number of fans, the greater your reach.  It is simple math, and it affects your SERP results as well as your overall reach.

2)      Complete your “About” section.  Your “About” section influences meta descriptions.  Google will choose what it shows based on content relevancy, so your About page can be geared to make the search engine recognize your Facebook as good content and include it in your meta description on the SERP.

3)      Keep your timeline content relevant and high-quality.  Facebook may be social media but it is no place for cute cat photos or your grandchildren’s vacation pictures if you are trying to build a business.  Your timeline content should exude relevance in every post.

4)      Use Facebook Apps to get your links “above the fold.”  Your goal is to make your Facebook posts appear in the visible part of the results so that your users do not have to scroll to find content.  Facebook Apps can help you do this by giving you a boost with perceived brand authority.

With a little work, you can optimize your Facebook page to bring your website more traffic and raise your search engine rankings.